


Flora And Faunus

by Solitary_Nugget



Category: RWBY
Genre: #DammnitWhitely, Adventure, Alternate Volume 4 Timeline, Amnesiac Robot, Angst, Bring tissues, But No One Remembers What It Is, Ciel Is A Saltbucket, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Fluffy Platonic Stuff, Friendship, Friendshit, Little To No Mentions Of Team RWBY, Lots Of Angsty Platonic Bonding, Multi, Penny Doesn't Remember Anything, Penny Doesn't Remember Ruby, Penny Is A Badass, Penny X Ciel, RWBY - Freeform, Robot, Severe Hints At Whitely Being Suicidal, The Psychopathic Scorpion Faunus Gives Life Advice, Tyrian And Penny Have A History Together, Tyrian Needs To Calm Down, Whitely Needs To Calm Down, Whitley Might Be Suicidal, but less so, faunus, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 12:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solitary_Nugget/pseuds/Solitary_Nugget
Summary: Salem is defeated. Remnant is saved, all thank to Team RWBY; Everything that was broken, is now whole, and will be, forever more.At least, on the surface.Team RWBY may have saved those who could not save themselves, but underneath the peace and freedom, lays an underground laidenwith blood and terror. Empires rise and fall under the ruse of a new, shining Beacon. Still, there are those whokill and maim, with no hope of ever seeing a gentle hand to shove them away.Driven by a want to remember, a want to fulfill a contract, a want to have a say in one's own life and a want toregain a love once lost, four people will join forces and shake foundations of Remnant in a way that no one expected to ever happen.





	Flora And Faunus

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: READ THIS FIRST, OR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED. 
> 
> This story follows an alternate Timeline to Volume 4. Essentially, all that has changed is Tyrian was so upset with himself when he failed to capture Ruby and displeased his Goddess (Volume 4, Episode 7.), he broke down and hid himself from the world, far away from Salem. Tyrian is no longer part of Salem's team.
> 
> ALSO
> 
> This story is Post-RWBY. So, after Salem is defeated and Remnant is saved.

The house was cinders. Black, crumbling, burnt, ragged, alone. It’s surroundings, a green forest alive with blossoming trees, appearing far too happy to be arced around such a desolate dwelling. Something in the way it sagged and hug limply onto its foundation made Penny feel (what she assumed to be) sadness, almost depression. She was almost too scared to approach it, but hidden within the bowels of the broken house was something to be discovered. Another memory, awaiting its reveal. Yet another piece in the ever-changing, ever-breaking and ever-reforming puzzle that was the many lives of Project POLENDINA. She had to go in, for she knew that if she did, she would find a small, but obvious answer. 

That, and the heavy, wretched sobbing coming from inside was beginning to worry her. 

As her eyes literally scanned the building, the young lady held up a single hand to the Atlas guards approaching her from behind. They stopped, as they should, but she could tell that, based on logical algorithms, her command confused them.   
“Miss Polendina?” One of the guards began. He was sharply cut off by Penny’s childlike, “Hush!”  
The guards were now silent, allowing Penny to hear what she had wanted to; The sobbing had not ceased, but the sound had not grown. Even from where she stood, on a short dirt path leading up to the house, she could hear how lonely the cries sounded, perfectly matching the desolation of the building from whence they came. 

“Stay here.” Penny said, her voice warm, yet calculating. “This will only take a minute.”  
“We can’t do that, Ma’am, we were instructed by General Ironwood himself to escort you on your ‘mission’...” The left guard insisted. She could hear the mocking in his tone, like a parent withholding from scolding a child.”  
“I know you were. I was there when you were given those orders.” Penny turned around, a smile gracing her thin lips. “Again, this will only take a minute. I’m not going to go running into the wilderness. I promise.”

The guards looked at each other, appearing confused and completely against the young lady’s motives, but when they turned back to confront her, Penny was already at the broken, black door.  
Tentatively, Penny pushed the fragments of the heavy door away with gentle ease, allowing them to fall to the side with a clatter as she entered the house. The whole of the room she was in, whether it was a dining room, a large corridor, or perhaps otherwise, was burned. There were holes in the walls, and the material with which the house was built was almost indiscernible. Penny gently took a step towards the middle of the room.   
She would not allow herself to be frightened by an empty building, she told herself. And yet, the young lady was still panicked, just a bit; The empty, dead silence of the rooms sent shivers up her metal spine. Suddenly, without warning, a loud howl of anguish peeled from the upstairs of the house, making Penny leap with a large jolt of fear. She looked up, and noticed that, although still badly damaged, the upper floor of the house was a tad more intact than the rest of the place. 

A rickety looking, half-decimated staircase led to the upstairs, which held more shadows and possible terrors than Penny was willing to face by herself. But, so great was her need to figure out what had happened before she was rebuilt, who she had been and what she had done, that all possible fears were pushed deep down inside her emotion banks, and Penny quietly, and as gently as possible, made her way up the stairs.   
There were little rooms to investigate, as the cracking walls had forced many smaller rooms to amalgamate into much large ones. And, besides, Penny didn’t have to explore much, as the desperate crying was so loud that she found its source in an instant. Crossing the hall, she found herself standing in a room without a door. Peering in, she found that the room had been more destroyed than the others; a full three-quarters of the walls had been demolished, revealing the lush greenery and the brilliant sunshine outside the rest of the house.

The sobbing, weeping, crying, whatever you want to call it, was being heaved out by a white shape in the center of the room. Curled around itself, like a wounded soldier clutching an arm; Thin. Ragged. Twitching. Clawing. Convulsing. Hungry.   
The man was desolate. As Penny approached him, too cautious and frightened for words, she could see red, fervent scratches running up his pale arms like claw marks, which he kept adding to as he sobbed to himself. Years of hot tears had etched themselves down his gaunt cheeks, like a river erosion stone, and tainted his golden eyes a light pink.  
Penny took another step closer to his form, hands held aloft as if she were taming an insane animal. She wanted to comfort him, to draw him close and tell him everything was going to be alright. But, based solely on the look of hungry desperation in his eyes, she could tell that she could not calm him down easily. Could this be the missing piece to her metal puzzle? Was this who Mister Geppi referred to when he mentioned an ‘old friend’?

She cleared her throat, gentle, but enough to gain the man’s attention. He snapped up almost immediately, his body drawing in on itself as if to protect what little was left of it. As the man hunched over, his eyes glaring, gleaming from gold to a dark purple, a tail whipped around from behind him. Jet-black and as quick as Penny was, it seemed to be missing something, she thought to herself.  
But, that was not the matter at hand.

“Are you alright?” Penny asked, her voice clear as she held her hands up to show she meant no harm. 

The faunus did not respond; He just choked back a few more sobs and studied Penny’s face, looking bewildered, furious and hurt all at the same time. 

“You seem...upset.”

No response. 

“Um.” Penny started again, reaching into her back pocket (pausing to hold up her hand more fervently as the faunus tensed up, obviously thinking she was drawing out a weapon.) and pulling out a burgundy neckerchief. She slowly held it out to the faunus, almost ecstatic when his face turned from one of alert to one of pained recognition. 

“The Doctors said that they found this with me when I was brought back to Atlas.”

The faunus grabbed it, staring at it like a thieving coward would look at his first piece of loot. 

“And, from what I’ve gathered, you might be the one who they say brought me back.”

He slowly looked up at her, more tears running down his face.

“They said that someone carried me in, and then ran away before they could thank him. A faunus, they said. With a long, black tail.” Penny paused, taking in a deep breath so that she could ask what she had been wanting to for minutes on end. “Do you know who I am? Besides the obvious, I mean? Were we colleagues? Friends, even?”

She stuttered a little at the word ‘friends’. She’d never had a friend, before. At least, not one that she remembered. The faunus stared at her a few moments more, his hurt eyes (now golden, like before.) boring into hers, with a passionate rage that she had never seen in a faunus or human before.

“You...you really have no idea, do you?” The faunus asked. His voice croaked, like he hadn’t had a drink in years, and was slowed to a gentle tone. 

“No, I don’t.” Penny shook her head, sadly. “I don’t remember anything after they rebuild me, again.”

Silence filled the room. The sound of wind, and bird singing happily to offset the melancholy, could be heard. 

The faunus sighed, looked up from the burgundy neckerchief, then said, “Tyrian.”

Penny stared at him a moment, then smiled.

“Penny.” She said. Now, they were on the right track.


End file.
